I have been mostly on the design side and I tend to lean toward providing more information. I'll ask which file format they require and also I would be open to providing the raw BIM (Revit, AECOsim, whatever) so that even if I provide them with IFCs or something else, they too can augment or test an export to see what suits them best. It's difficult because design models are focused on facilitating design needs, but could be created to facilitate fabrication turnover so long as it doesn't require too much more "technical" effort. IFCs should be ready to facilitate appropriate geometric and information transfer for a fabricator to further...

Yes, personally I've been involved with concrete - not that much need to go from design to fabrication there - just add pour breaks and pull quantities to order the trucks.

On the management side, I've dealt with Steel and M&E trades taking the design models and producing LOD 400 fabrication + coordination models. Issues I've run across along the way have been:- lack of coordination (pipes through ductwork, ductwork through ductwork. etc.)- steel model not being sized correctly - 2D sheets have correct beam sizes, but actual geometric sizes in model are not as big as they should be .... makes coordination difficult- slopes in slabs, pipes, etc need to be correct- depth of light fixtures need to be correct (Ex: 16" deep pot lights need to be modeled as such).

Generally the trades take your models and sheets and use them as a background to redraw all their work. However, now that Revit 2017 has integrated a lot of the feature of CAD FAB MEP into itself, I know of at least Kelson Mechanical that is planning on using that for their coordination + fabrication models.

I have been on both the design and fabrication side for structural steel. Using SDS2 in the past we would share the model through CIS2 which needed some mapping efforts. Now with Tekla Structures, there are direct links available. If the fabricator uses Tekla we obviously share the native file as it permits us to use the model checking capabilities for shop drawing approvals. If not, CIS2 or even IFC if the fabricator has a IFC to steel converter.

We have provided IFC files of our design model to a Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) to serve as the basis for cutting the SIP panels. This process involved some back and forth with the fabricator before we finally got it all sorted out, but in the end the fabricator successfully cut the SIP panels using our model.

The software used to fabricate the SIP panels originated from Germany and required some updates (based upon the way IFC was interpreted), as this was almost 2 years ago now. We have since leveraged this approach successfully on several subsequent projects.

I've never seen any real success in this. Not all, but a lot of consultants are using 3D software to produce 2D drawings with very little actual 3D coordination/Building Information and providing them to us with waiver documents claiming they are not accurate, only schematic and are not to be used for construction. I would say we do more remodeling rather than converting. Further, as many MEP trades are using software like CAD Fab MEP, they won't use consultant Revit files either and they start from scratch. As a previous poster mentioned, as Revit integrates more fabrication features this may change.

A lot of this is driven by the delivery method as well. Stipulated Sum contracts make this process difficult for contractors as we come in so late, where in Construction Management or Design-Build we can have more input/ influence in the early phases of the model development that can make this transition a lot better.

On the MEP side, our team works to convert design intent models in Revit to fabrication LOD400 using SysQue. The process is pretty simple. We were told a number of times by people around the Quebec area that SysQue was not working with canadian standards but after a few tweaks we proved them wrong. !

My understanding is that most curtain wall manufacturers are working with solidworks. We have received IFC files from solidworks models but they are usually too heavy (LOD 400+) to be integrated in most of the BIM software used by designers even navisworks. Would have been nice to compare design intent with detailed curtain walls but no success ...